Cold and Wet Edge Dams

Got rained off so just did the trip to the ruined farmhouse then back down to Wainstalls.

14 Swift 5 Swallow still not got House Martin this season.

5 Tufted Duck c90 Canada.

Pr Oystercatcher pr Redshank. 4 Lapwing 4/5 Curlew. 3 WW 1 Skylark 8/9 Meadow Pipit 1 Pied Wagtail pr Greenfinch 6 Blackbird 🐦‍⬛.

Cold Edge To Forget It

A poor show today with minimal birds or hardly any at journeys end 😢. 

Cold Edge Dams: 4 Tufted Duck & plenty of Canadas.

Pr Oystercatcher one of which was flying around making plenty of noise for a minute or so.

4/5  vocal Curlew, 2 Lapwing, 1 Pied Wagtail, a few Meadow Pipit, 4/5 Swallow ditto Goldfinch.

This female Rhea is called Di.

Ogden Water To Deadsville

Well well the heavy rain failed to miserablise, I stayed dry and managed a pr of annuals to 🥾 boot 😁.

Ogden: pr Tufted Duck, 3 LBBG which didn’t stay long.

1 Blackcap, 3/4 WW, 1 GSW ditto Grey Wagtail.

Around Stod Fold I was surprised to get a pr Swift in flight as it was overcast and cold. These are my latest ever by some 15/16 days. A pr Swallow followed through a few minutes later. A pr Curlew were in the vicinity as was a single Barn Owl.

Not going to mention the final venue 😏 but I will say that a low flying Buzzard was struggling in the headwind at Bradshaw at the start of proceedings.

A Busy Session At Cold Edge Dams

Overcast with a E'ly cool breeze but no complaints about the birding 😋.

A Cuckoo called loudly and often from the woods and trees near to the old ruined farmhouse.

A chipping Snipe. Pr Common Sandpiper, 1 Oystercatcher ditto Redshank. 4 Lapwing, 4/5 Curlew.

On a track I found part of a nest and fragments of a Lapwing egg.

1 each Little Grebe Tufted Duck Greenfinch Swallow Pied Wagtail & Grey Heron. 

7 large Gulls went N all were in sub adult phases so can’t be sure but LBBG has settled in my grey matter.

Dull Denholme Sluggish Soil Hell

A long slog dazzling with disappointment ☹️. Never known Denholme Clough and Doe Park be so lacking in bird life.

No hirundines at all same with those apodiododili form thingies.

8 WW, 2 each Goldfinch Blackcap Chiffchaff & Whitethroats. 

The stream looks like all aquatic life is long gone and the reservoir not worth a mention.

Soil Hell: pr Goldfinch, 1 Reed Bunting ditto Lapwing. Couple Meadow Pipit ditto Curlew, 1 Whitethroat.

Raggalds wet patches held a pr Lapwing.

Oats Royd And Horton Bank CP

Oats Royd was both disappointing and somewhat depressing 🙁. The ponds looked to be polluted; not a single bird on or around them. Also the place is generally overgrown but the crowning horror was a large amount of dumped rubbish.

4 WW, 1 Whitethroat, 2 each Blackcap & Chiffchaff. Common residents in low numbers including a singing Song Thrush.

Horton Bank Country Park

After exiting OR I saw a plebeians chariot approaching so I hopped aboard and disembarked at the country park. 

Despite being overall quiet this proved a good move as it provided me with a great annual visitor. A Reed Warbler was singing away appropriately in the reeds 😜.

Also the GC Grebe is still present as are the pr Mute Swan. 1 each Grey Heron & LBBG. 3 Coot ditto Canada Goose. Pr Blackbird. 

Cold Edge Dams To Mixenden

Another wind variety this time from the SE so not cold.

1 Whitethroat, a few WW, 5 Tufted Duck. 6 Greylag & many Canada. 1 Oystercatcher, 5 Lapwing, 7 Linnet similar Skylark, 2 Swallow ditto Blackbird.

The top road down to Mixenden was once again a boring grind; nothing bar Caaawvids. There was a 2 minute spell when an almost baritone Cuck Ooo sound was heard repeated fivefold. Turned out to be a machine starting up near the quarry works 😏.

Mixenden Res was again a huge disappointment with nothing on the water although a Blackcap burst into song so close it nearly claimed an eardrum.

Blackstone Edge And Whiteholme

I sure can pick em nothing like a fresh NE’ly for keeping the birds down. Started off OK with a mucho stonko Greenland Wheater at Blackstone then it nosedived 😏.

2 Northern Wheatear, pr Pied Wagtail. A soaring Buzzard a flying Kestrel. 3/4 Common Sandpiper, several Meadow Pipit less so Skylark. 1 Reed Bunting. Not a single hirundine.

Thursday And Friday Outings

What a downer it was Thursday at Ogden to Mixenden. Just a pr Tufted Duck on the water Ogden & a Grey Heron. 2 Chiffchaff and several WW.

I walked the long golf course route - 2 WW ditto Meadow Pipit only 😢.

Not a sausage on Mixenden just Chiffchaff & Whitethroat singing.

Friday HB Country Park. Finally a GC Grebe here. 1 Grey Heron, pr Mute Swan. 5 LBBG, 5/6 Herring Gull. Couple Coot & Moorhen.

2 Whitethroat, 3/4 WW & a Chiffchaff.

Camera is curtains can’t be bothered getting another one.

Raggalds Scrape And Soil Hell

I expect the Raggalds to be driza bone come Friday.  The pr Oystercatcher are still there and 4 Lapwing were present. A Crow chose to land and boy did it get some ‘ammer from a pr of punishing Pewit.

SH was hard graft but I did get rewarded with a singing Sedge Warbler at the bottom ditch. 1 Reed Bunting ditto Lapwing. 3 Linnet similar WW, 1 Whitethroat. 

Thought I heard brief call from Common Sandpiper in the quarry! I won’t record on Birdtrack however. Couple Curlew up top.

Cold At Cold Edge To Mixenden

A bad move this. I underestimated the damage a NE’ly blow that wasn’t strong by any means could do. 

The dams were virtually devoid and the fields weren’t bouncing either.

2 Common Sandpiper, 4 Lapwing & a few distant Curlew. Canadas pr Greylag. 3/4 Skylark 1 Pied Wagtail, 3 Swallow. Couple WW ditto Goldfinch & Chaffinch, a Green Woodpecker & a Barn Owl.

I don’t want to mention the long drag from Withens to Mixenden Res 🤬.

Soil Hill and a Queensbury N Drama

Confirmation that I meet the requirements for psychiatry ☹️.

After an unmentionable Friday I went up the hill from hell again this morning. The peace and tranquility shattered the sound of shotguns going off at the rate of Uzis 🤨.

Not much doing: 1 Kestrel ditto Reed Bunting & Wheatear. A few Skylark a Linnet & 2/3 Meadow Pipit.

I decided to walk back via the Raggalds and here my luck changed noticeably 😃.

On what is now a scrape were a pr of Lapwing with a pr Oystercatcher 👍. I went up the Old Guy Rd track and got 7 Swallow before reaching the fields near the cricket pitch.

A female Wheatear was on a wall and it kept flying ahead of me.

The bird put in a final appearance as it dipped below a wall corner. About 20 seconds afterwards a Sparrowhawk flew up from that same spot and passed me not too far away. I got good views but the angle of flight prohibited viewing its talons.

The Wheatear was not seen again 🤔.

A Busy Morning Soil Hill & Ogden

I thought that when the mog and fist clears there should be some birds to be seen on the hill from hades. Turns out I was right for once 😃.

Kicked off with 3 Wheatear on the top track from Perspiration Rd. Another one down at the N slope bottom where a chipping Snipe was heard on two occasions.

A Whitethroat was singing and an Oystercatcher flying around calling as were a few distant Curlew.

A pr Grey Partridge were seen twice and a RLP also encountered. Skylark numbered around 9. 3 Lapwing chasing some probably unwelcome and unseen visitor?

The Ned Hill area coughed up a pr of very active and noisy Whitethroat and quite a few WW. A single Swallow was seen and when I left Coal Lane a Barn Owl flew across my path just a few yards away 😛.

It did calm down around Ogden Water where a drake Goosander was present along with 2 Grey Heron. However the place was heaving with noisy WWs. A Grey Wagtail was in the embankment channel.

The golf course held another Whitethroat a couple WW and a pr Raven chastising a Buzzard. The elsewhere Barn Owl was in view. 

A Common Sandpiper present on Mixenden Res.